It was just three years ago when lanky 21-year-old David Peterson took the mound at PK Park, completely unaware of the career night ahead of him. Peterson went on to set a school-record 20 strikeouts that night in a complete game shutout, beating his personal best of 17 while taking down the Sun Devils.
Now, less than three-and-a-half years later, Peterson is establishing himself as a viable big-league starting pitcher for the New York Mets, despite having debuted less than a month ago.
After posting a 3.44 ERA during three years at Oregon, the Mets drafted Peterson in the first round of the 2017 draft, and over the last few years he has shot up through the Mets’ minor league system.
With the Mets’ starting pitching depth taking multiple hits during this strange 60-game MLB season, the opportunity presented itself for Peterson, who was a consensus top-ten prospect in the Mets’ farm system.
He made his major league debut on July 28, allowing two runs in 5.2 innings while striking out three in a win over the Boston Red Sox. The 6-foot-6 left-hander also topped out at a velocity of 96 miles per hour.
“This is one of the greatest days in my life; this is something I’ve wanted to do since I was a little kid,” Peterson said after his debut. “To go out there and make my first major league start and we got the win, I couldn’t have asked for more.”
Peterson’s manager, Luis Rojas, spoke glowingly of him after the game.
“Peterson does a great job with his pitch selection and his ability to handle the scenarios thrown at him with maturity,” Rojas said.
Peterson followed up his solid debut with three more equally as effective starts, and through four outings put up a 2.91 ERA with a 3-1 record. He is one of just three pitchers in Mets history to start and win three of his first four career games.
His first loss came in his second start on August 2 against the Atlanta Braves, when he still provided a quality start with three runs in six innings. He struck out eight batters, his career high at the time as a major leaguer.
“There was two times that I threw seven balls in a row; that just can’t happen,” he said. “Down the road, that’s going to hurt and it’s just unacceptable on my part. My job is to hunker down and get out of those innings.”
While skipping Triple-A completely and being called up during this shortened season, Peterson has adjusted to the higher level of competition remarkably well.
“Obviously, all the pitches in the big leagues mean a lot more than they do in live games or minor league games,” he said. “It’s just been a matter of trying to manage the workload and see what works.”
Peterson was placed on the injured list with left shoulder fatigue on August 18, but came back to pitch solidly down the stretch, including a September 19 start where he struck out 10 batters. He finished his strong rookie season with a 3.44 ERA over 10 games (nine starts).
Especially with the Mets’ rotation looking thin, Peterson made a convincing case to slide right in as a reliable middle starter.
If he can maintain what he showed in 2020, the possibilities are infinite for the 25-year-old lefty.
